The History of Buddhist Thought c21.47

c21.47

The names of the first three rulers are given as Kujula Kadphises, V’ima Kadphises, and Kanishka, but it is not agreed whether Kanishka came first or third.¹ If he came first, his reign would have begun in the first century B.C., but the archæological discoveries of Sir John Marshall have led Professor Rapson to conclude that he succeeded the other two, and that the Śaka era which began in A.D. 77-8 was the date of Kanishka’s accession. This at present appears to be the most probable opinion. It is in his reign that we hear of a Buddhist Council being held, and according to this scheme of chronology the most likely date for it would be about A.D. 100. For the Sarvāstivādins it is the third Buddhist Council. The earliest account of it is found in Hiuen Tsiang, about five centuries later.²